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Swamphunter
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 08:29 - Edited by: Swamphunter
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I've been doing a lot of reading on this forum, but am overwhelmed with the whole solar powered set-up thing. Maybe if I knew something about electricity and demand or draw of energy from appliances, maybe it would help me.
Here is my question... I am planning a solar set-up for a 16x24 cabin, with an upstairs loft... I only need power to run a few small lights, and wall outlets... maybe an electric oven, but thats not a necessity as I can go propane.. how do I determine my needs? Is there a ready made installcomplete kit available? Thanks
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Rick004
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 10:37
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I am alot like You , I haven't built yet so it's a good time this winter to do alot of research !! For myself my cabin will be 14x20 with a loft and the only electric power will be lights , a 12 volt RV pump for water and a small tv for rainy days . The fridge and stove will be propane as well as a tankless propane water heater . I'm looking at a 200 watt kit solar kit on eBay for around 500$ and maybe 4 deep cycle batteries . I think your first move would be to determine how much electricity You can live without and start there ! There are alot of sites on the net that give the power consumption of different small appliances !
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 12:07 - Edited by: VTweekender
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First you should determine how much good sunlight you will get at the location, if up in the northeast you will most likely average about 2 to 3 hours a day good sunlight for solar.....thats if you are in a good clearing with direct sunlight to put the panels....tree obstructions will cut that down....
Usually electric ovens , fridges, toasters , etc...are not used on a solar system as they are heavy draw,and is very costly to build a system that large to handle those appliances, to spend another 3k to turn on a oven for an hour needs to be thought out.. . You can get an idea of what size system to put together with certain appliances on this calculator here.... http://www.freesunpower.com/system_sizing.php ......
You mention wall outlets, that means tying the solar system into a breaker panel and feeding the outlets.....easy enough....BUT what is being plugged into the outlets?? thats the big question....
Rick004 has the right idea...a 200 watt panel system...run a few 13 watt CFL lights and a small LCD television would work just fine.....trying to run anything past that on a 200 watt system will most likely drain it down more quickly than wanted.......you could charge cell phones ok on it as well, and a 600 watt microwave for 10 minutes a day should be ok as well on a 200 watt system.....but for the micro you would need a 1000 watt inverter for the surge instead of a smaller 3 or 400 watt inverter that only would be needed for lights , TV and cellphone/laptop charging...
You can have a 3000 watt generator handy to run for an hour if you want to fire up a electric stove, power tool, toaster , coffee maker etc..etc...
For complete kit components you could check out solarblvd.com.....good prices and helpful people...buy your deep cycle batteries locally...shipping to high to buy online...
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Dillio187
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 12:45
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you absolutely need to define your loads first. You spec, and then build, your entire system around the anticipated loads.
If you have specific appliances in mind, buy a Kill-A-Watt meter and measure their draw.
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Swamphunter
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2012 14:44
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Im also not opposed to running off a small Honda generator for the amount of time I'll actually need power... using oil lamps and and wood stove the rest of the time
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Moving Pictures
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2013 19:36 - Edited by: Moving Pictures
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As with others, figure out your loads. You do not want to heat/cook/boil with solar: it's about the worst thing you can do, from an efficiency standpoint.
Look at LED lights such as
http://marineledshop.com/surface-mounted-led-lights/led-light-fixture-1-8w-surface-mo unted-warm-white?path=27_28
Which I am using in a test case, with pleasant results, or
Stuff like this: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/boat-rv-fixtures/filter/Volts_Typical,24,100,3897:
Don't buy off Ebay: you will get what you pay for. Find a local distributor of modules, and go from there. But first, find out what your power need are and go from there. I've included date from an excel spreadsheet to give you an idea of where to go. Note that most solar folk recommend you plan for a five-day isolation period.
Item Power Hours Per day
Static loads
Fridge 70
Freezer 360
Pump 50 1.5 75
Variable loads
Washer 119 (per load) 71.4
Crockpot 130 5 195
Regular lpads
Computers 60.00 2.00 120.00
CFL fills 30.00 0.20 6.00
LED fill lights 18.00 4.00 72.00
Misc kitchen app. 350.00 0.10 35.00
Misc pumps 10.00 5.00 50.00
Steamer 640.00 0.17 108.80
Watt/hours per day 1163.2
Amp-hours per day 12v 96.93333333
24v 48.46666667
Watt/hours per five days 5816.00
Amp/hours per five days 12v 12 484.67
24v 24 242.33
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